Finishing the surfaces

So obviously I don't want my vibraphone to look like a scrap metal yard. So my next step was to smooth out all the surfaces of the bars. This is done by sanding only. I didn't want my bars to be so smooth that there are reflections on them. I did all the sanding parallel to the length of the bar to give it a uniform grain along the bar's length. The sanding process was done in 3 stages or layers.

First I used an 80 grit sanding belt on my belt sander. I applied all surfaces except the top surface of the bar to the flat part of the belt sander. The belt sander was good for quickly removing large scratches but was not very smooth. It was also great for creating rounded edges simply by applying an edge to the sander and then slowly pivoting about that edge. I did not apply the top surface because it produced an uneven grain because the surface of the belt sander was not perfectly flat and some portions of the bar would get sanded more than others.

Then I used 80 grit sandpaper. Even though it was the same grit as the belt sander it made the surfaces much smoother when done by hand. Using wet sandpaper lets the sandpaper last longer.

The final layer was done with 150 grit sandpaper. This completely smoothed out every surface and gave everything a nice "polished" look.

Here is the finished result. I was immensely pleased with how they turned out. There were a few dings and scratches here and there that were too deep to be removed, but I'm not too worried about it. Next up is fine tuning, which will require a good deal of patience.